Spring means baby animal season
This winter flew by before we knew it. From a unseasonably mild December to the long hard freeze that I guess was called the month of January, to early grass growth in March, it was quite a ride! But spring on the farm is one of my favorite seasons, because it means babies. We have new lambs, kids, and piglets with more of each still on the way.
An abundance of eggs
After spending most of last year sold out of eggs, we expanded our laying flock and now have an abundance of eggs available. We’re prepared for the busy market season, but until the bulk of our summer markets start, we’re a bit inundated. As enterprising young(ish) farmers, we refuse to let these delicious little protein packages go unused and unloved. We have made several trips to the co-operative commercial kitchen in Willimantic to process excess eggs into eggciting new products, including egg pastas and frozen scramble.
In other egg news, we’re now selling eggs at the Willimantic Food Co-op on a trial basis. We’ve been Co-op members since we moved to this part of CT and are excited to take our relationship to the next level.
Markets and locations
This farmers market season we’ll be doing the same markets we did last year.
Tolland, CT starts Saturday May 7th and we’ll be there for the first day and then every other week until the market ends on November 19. This is a short and sweet market at 2 hours long, from 10am to noon.
Assawaga Farm in Putnam, CT has a small market, featuring their organic vegetables and our meat + eggs. This market start is on Sundays from 9am to 12pm, starting May 15th. We’ll be there every Sunday until May 29th. Then we’ll start every other week on June 19.
Sturbridge Farmers Market in Mass starts on Sunday June 5th. This market is four hours long, from 9am to 1pm. We’ll be doing every other Sunday starting June 12.
Twice a week on-farm at our very own farm in Ashford: starting last fall and running year-round, we have on-farm store hours here. Each Sunday we’re open from 2-4pm and each Tuesday from noon-2pm. Come on by!
The every-other week schedule at markets can be confusing, so we have each date we’ll be at each market listed on the Contact Us page of our website. A good reference so you can be sure to catch us before you head out for market shopping!
Survey: winter CSA with Still Life Farm?
We’re contemplating teaming up with Still Life Farm out of Hardwick, Mass next winter for a winter CSA pickup at our farm in Ashford.
We’ve been members of their winter CSA for years and it’s a great way to get local produce during the cold, dark winter months. Although summer vegetable CSAs with weekly pickups are more familiar to most people, this is an opportunity to get once-a-month boxes of fruit and veggies, with five pickups (Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb).
Still Life has never done a pickup location in CT before, so we’re trying to gauge interest. Answering is completely non-binding and for informational purposes only: are you interested in having a winter CSA fruit/veg pickup at our farm in Ashford for winter 2022/2023 season?
NCO feed changes
New Country Organics is still changing prices and some bag sizes as they adapt to supply shortages and shipping changes. We keep our online store feed section updated with the latest prices we’re charging, so that’s a good reference to see pricing.
Peas (field peas) are a key ingredient in soy-free animal feeds because peas are a great source of protein. Unfortunately the price of peas has gone up dramatically and peas are in shorter supply than normal, so responsible feed mills such as NCO are doing their best to mitigate these issues. Fingers crossed for a productive pea harvest this year!
Remember if you are looking for other products besides the two layer feeds we stock we can get it ordered on our frequent deliveries. We place orders typically every three weeks so we can usually get you new products fairly quickly.
Want to get these blogs in your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter.